Career By Design

Engineers are commonly thought of quiet, shy, introverted, technical, and so on. We rarely hear people outside engineer describe us as entrepreneurs even when we share a lot of the same skills. 

How can we improve our careers by getting involved outside of work on activities that challenge our comfort zone?   

I recently release a podcast episode on the Engineering our Future podcast talking to Stephanie Slocum about how having an entrepreneurial mindset can make us better engineers (even if we do not want to own or start a company)

Give it a listen here: www.luisfelipeduque.com/024

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Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Bridge Engineer
Broomfield CO
info@...
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Hi Luis!

Thanks for sharing your podcast. I gave it a listen and found the whole discussion between you and your guest Stephanie to be very enjoyable and worthwhile. 

- For some others out there who might want to listen, here are some of the highlights the podcast touched on:

- Time management - learning that as much as we would all love to carve out large chunks of time to work on things, sometimes that is not possible and we have to instead get into developing the habit of working on something for shorter periods, but staying consistent and developing the habit.

 - Being an introvert, and the perception of engineers as introverts. The discussion turned towards valuing introverts for the slower thoughtful input they might bring to the table, and not feeling compelled to talk simply for the sake of making noise. 

 - The suggestion of not overplanning things - sometimes in areas like networking, you just have to go out and try it, make some mistakes, and see what worked for you as well. 

- Stephanie mentioned that she found volunteering was a good way for her to network because it brought her together with others in a setting where communication was focused on accomplishing a goal as a team, and not on just making small-talk. 

Personally, I have found volunteering to be a great opportunity for myself as well. I was glad to hear this brought up on the podcast for the same reason. Even before I listened to it, I was planning to leave a comment about how volunteering as a group leader at various trash clean-up events in Philadelphia helped me channel some of my own abilities and make use of them in a leadership role. 

Thanks again for sharing!

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Christopher Seigel P.E., M.ASCE
Civil Engineer
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Christopher, 

Thank you for giving it a listen and I am glad you got some value out of it! Thanks for sharing some of the takeaways for the podcast, they were on point.

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Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Bridge Engineer
Broomfield CO
info@...
[Phone][Phone2]
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-09-2021 11:50 AM
From: Christopher Seigel
Subject: Entrepreneurial Mindset for Engineers

Hi Luis!

Thanks for sharing your podcast. I gave it a listen and found the whole discussion between you and your guest Stephanie to be very enjoyable and worthwhile.

- For some others out there who might want to listen, here are some of the highlights the podcast touched on:

- Time management - learning that as much as we would all love to carve out large chunks of time to work on things, sometimes that is not possible and we have to instead get into developing the habit of working on something for shorter periods, but staying consistent and developing the habit.

 - Being an introvert, and the perception of engineers as introverts. The discussion turned towards valuing introverts for the slower thoughtful input they might bring to the table, and not feeling compelled to talk simply for the sake of making noise.

 - The suggestion of not overplanning things - sometimes in areas like networking, you just have to go out and try it, make some mistakes, and see what worked for you as well.

- Stephanie mentioned that she found volunteering was a good way for her to network because it brought her together with others in a setting where communication was focused on accomplishing a goal as a team, and not on just making small-talk.

Personally, I have found volunteering to be a great opportunity for myself as well. I was glad to hear this brought up on the podcast for the same reason. Even before I listened to it, I was planning to leave a comment about how volunteering as a group leader at various trash clean-up events in Philadelphia helped me channel some of my own abilities and make use of them in a leadership role.

Thanks again for sharing!

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Christopher Seigel P.E., M.ASCE
Civil Engineer
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